Sunday, February 28, 2010

CONCEPCION, Chile - Heroism and banditry mingled on Chile's shattered streets Sunday as rescuers braved aftershocks digging for survivors and the government sent soldiers to quell looting.

The death toll climbed to 708 in one of the biggest earthquakes in centuries.

In the hard-hit city of Concepcion, firefighters pulling survivors from a toppled apartment block were forced to pause because of tear gas fired to stop looters, who were wheeling off everything from microwave ovens to canned milk at a damaged supermarket across the street.

You can help the people of Chile by clicking here to give to Operation Blessing Disaster Relief.

Efforts to determine the full scope of destruction were undermined by an endless string of terrifying aftershocks that continued to turn buildings into rubble. Officials said 500,000 houses were destroyed or badly damaged, and President Michele Bachelet said "a growing number" of people were listed as missing.

"We are facing a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort" to recover, Bachelet said after meeting for six hours with ministers and generals in La Moneda Palace, itself chipped and cracked.

She signed a decree giving the military control over security in the province of Concepcion, where looters were pillaging supermarkets, gas stations, pharmacies and banks.

The president, who leaves office on March 11, also said the country would accept some of the offers of aid that have poured in from around the world.

She said the country needs field hospitals and temporary bridges, water purification plants and damage assessment experts - as well as rescuers to help relieve workers who have been laboring frantically since the magnitude-8.8 quake struck before dawn Saturday.

To strip away any need for looting, Bachelet announced that essentials on the shelves of major supermarkets would be given away for free, under the supervision of authorities. Troops and police will also distribute food and water, she said.

Although houses, bridges and highways in Santiago were damaged, a few flights managed to land at the airport and subway service resumed.

More chaotic was the region to the south, where the shaking was the strongest and where the quake generated waves that lashed coastal settlements, leaving behind sticks, scraps of metal and masonry houses ripped in two.

In the village of Lloca, a beachside carnival was caught in the tsunami. A carousel was twisted on its side and a ferris wheel rose above the muddy wreckage.

In Concepcion, the largest city in the disaster zone, a new, 15-story apartment building toppled onto its side. Many of those who lived on the side that wound up facing the sky could clamber out; those on the other were trapped. An estimated 60 people remained trapped in the 70-unit apartment building.

Police officer Jorge Guerra took names of the missing from a stream of tearful relatives and friends. He urged them to be optimistic because about two dozen people had been rescued.

"There are people alive. There are several people who are going to be rescued," he said - though the next people pulled from the wreckage were dead.

Rescuers worked carefully for fear of aftershocks. Ninety jolts of magnitude 5 or greater shuddered across the region in the first 24 hours after the quake, including one nearly as large as the earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12.

Firefighters in Concepcion were about to lower a rescuer deep into the rubble when the scent of tear gas fired at looters across the street forced them to interrupt their efforts.

"It's sad, but because of the situation you have to confront the robberies and at the same time continue the search," Guerra said.

The sound of chain saws, power drills and sledgehammers breaking through concrete competed with the whoosh of a water cannon fired at looters and the shouts of crowds that found new ways into a four-story supermarket each time police retreated.

One woman ran off with a shopping cart piled high with slabs of unwrapped meat and cheese. A shirtless man carried a mattress on his head. Some of the looters pitched rocks at police armored vehicles outside the Lider market, which is majority-owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Across the Bio Bio River in the city of San Pedro, looters cleared out a shopping mall. A video store was set ablaze, two automatic teller machines were broken open, a bank was robbed and a supermarket emptied, its floor littered with mashed plums, scattered dog food and smashed liquor bottles.

"It was a mob. They looted everything," said police Sgt. Rene Gutierrez, 46, who had his men guarding the now-empty mall. "Now we're only here to protect the building - what's left of the building."

He said police had been slow to reach the looted mall because one bridge over the river was collapsed and the other so damaged they had to move cautiously.

Ingenious looters even used long tubes of bamboo and plastic to siphon gasoline from underground tanks at a closed gasoline station. Others rummaged through the station's restaurant.

Thieves attacked a flour mill in Concepcion - some toting away bags on their shoulders, others using bicycles or cars. One man packed a school bus with sacks of flour.

Many defended the scavenging - of food if not television sets - as a necessity because officials had not brought food or water. Even Concepcion's mayor, Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, complained that no food aid was reaching the city. She said the federal government should send troops to help halt the looting.

In Talca, where old adobe buildings in the town center were flattened, many spent the night outside, huddled beneath blankets on lawn chairs, sleeping on a mattress hauled from a damaged home or sheltering in camping tents.

State television showed scenes of devastation in coastal towns and more still on Robinson Crusoe Island, where it said the tsunami drove almost 2 miles (3 kilometers) into the town of San Juan Bautista. Officials said at least five people were killed there and more were missing.

The surge of water raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens and evacuations from Hawaii to Japan, but it did little damage.

RAWALPINDI: The CEO of the Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus CI Kim has condemned the kidnapping and gang rape of a female employee of the company and announced Rs100,000 as financial assistance for the victim’s family. He also announced medical and other facilities for the victim. In a press release issued by Naeemullah, head of marketing of Daewoo, on Monday, CI Kim said that the company and its employees were grieved over the inhuman incident. “I have no words to express my grievance and how to condemn this highly brutal act against innocent female.” He demanded of the Punjab government to take strict action against the culprits. He said due to prevailing law and order, the company’s employees have also become victim. He asked the government to provide security not only to passengers and operations, but also the company workers.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

QUETTA: A woman has given birth to her baby on an auto rickshaw over closure of airport road and other connecting roads due to the presence of President Asif Ali Zardari in Quetta.

The woman was riding on a rickshaw, which could not reach the hospital due to the closure of major roads.

The rickshaw carrying the pregnant woman was also not allowed to proceed to the hospital for more than 3 hours. As a result, she suddenly went into the labour in rickshaw and had her baby over there.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has ordered an inquiry into the closure of airport road.

The airport road, Zarghoon road and other main roads of the city were closed for all kind of traffic hours before the President Zardari?s visit to Quetta. These roads remained closed for several hours during the movement of President Zardari in the city.

The wife of a local resident Momin Khan was also barred from going to hospital.

Despite the fact that the security personnel were informed about the condition of pregnant mother, she was not allowed to go.

Barbara wrote in response, “Hey, baby! I can't wait to go to India. I'm so excited. We will travel all over the world together! It's going to be so much fun.” She posted to the couple, “Missing us from this part of the world....but see us soon!”

Barbara also showers praises on Hrithik for his dancing abilities: “I'm not as good as Hrithik. He is the best dancer ever... I think he is more beautiful inside than outside and he is very lucky to have a Sussanne in his life! Both are beautiful!”

Barbara also tweeted her line from the film, “Mein ullu ki patthi hun... nice, isn't?” And added, “I love India! Thank you for the welcome. Send all of you my love...Smile and be happy cause life is wonderfull! Thank you all for all that love.”

She'll be in India only in May, she says, “Will go there in May for the promo, no new project there till now, but dying to go there. What I like more in India are the people...I loved all of you...you are amazing people!”

Sneha Ullal was known as the Aishwarya Rai-lookalike when she entered the film world but the actress is now keen to carve a niche for herself. After featuring in spooky thriller "Click", she feels it's time she proved her calibre to people who misguided her when she first came to Bollywood.

"See 'Click' is not my comeback in Bollywood because the film doesn't revolve around me. I need a film like 'Lucky' (her debut vehicle) to make a comeback; then I can show what I can do," Sneha told.

"Now it's time I prove myself because there are a lot of people who misguided me in Bollywood - whom I trusted. I never knew Bollywood is like that, you know," she said.

The young actress has already signed two Hindi movies, including one opposite Akshay Kumar.

"I am doing a film with Ashok Tyagi where Akshay Kapoor is my co-star and there is another film with Shubir Mukherjee. The film is being launched by Joy Mukherjee's son Sujoy. One of them is a thriller, the other is a love story and both are expected to release later this year," said Sneha.

Sneha made her debut in 2005 opposite Salman Khan and her second release was "Aryan: Unbreakable" (2006) with Sohail Khan. After that she moved down south and featured in Telugu films like "Nenu Meeku Telusa...?" and "Ullasanga Utsahanga".

"I have done three films in the south and the fourth is releasing in April. In the south, people are very genuine. They will tell you the right things. I had rejected one film because I was not comfortable kissing on screen.

"Two months later, I got another film and I called the same director, whose film I had rejected, for some guidelines and he guided me properly. It's unlike Bollywood. Here people will misguide you and take you in the wrong direction. That's what happened with me," said Sneha.

The 22-year-old feels she owes a lot to southern cinema. "I won't stop doing films in the south ever. It teaches you how to be an actor...how to be a lady. I don't know about Bollywood as I haven't done much work here."

But at the same time she is keen to leave her mark in Bollywood as well and says she will be less choosy about roles than earlier.

"I am going to do any role now that takes me to another level. If my role is good, I don't mind even if it's a D-grade film," said Sneha.

"I was choosy, but it didn't work for me. I need to learn because that's what an actor is all about. She needs to play different kinds of characters...You can't stick to one genre."

Asked if she has any regrets about her initial years in Bollywood, Sneha said: "I don't regret but if I am to re-do, I will re-do now. I don't regret because 'Lucky' gave me name; people know me today because of 'Lucky'."

Elizabeth Hurley took everyone by surprise when she flashed her assets in her see-through sari at a charity fundraiser 'the Love Ball' held at the Roundhouse in North London. She was accompanied by her Indian textile heir husband Arun Nayar, who she married in 2007.

The show was being organised by Natalia Vodianova, the Russian model and philanthropist, in assocation with Harper's Bazaar.

The mother of one left nothing to the imagination as she purposely chose not to wear a Choli or blouse which is typically worn underneath it.

Earlier Hurley gave a special gift to her husband by changing her name to Elizabeth Hurley-Nayar, when she is not working.

"Arun is quite old-fashioned about these things," The Telegraph quoted a friend of the couple as saying.

The pal added: "She is doing this to please him. It''s her publicly accepting that she is his woman."

It is a highly prolific period for the pretty Southern actress, Priyamani. She certainly received rave reviews and numerous accolades for her astounding performances in Balu Mahendra's ‘Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam', Ameer Sultan's ‘Paruthiveeran' and Malayalam movie ‘Thirai Kadha'.

Now, she has been offered to essay one of the lead roles in the highly awaited ‘Raavan', ace director Mani Ratnam's bilingual film.

Of course, it's a double treat for the actress as working in Mani Ratnam's film happens to be the cherished dream of every actor in Kollywood. The film will mark her debut in Bollywood as well.

Also, Priyamani has yet another reason to feel ecstatic.

The actress has signed Ram Gopal Varma's multilingual film ‘Rakta Charitra', a film that has invited curiosity due to it being based on the life of the slain political leader Paritala Ravindra.

She will be paired opposite the Southern superstar Surya in the film. The film has reportedly been shot in three different languages– Hindi, Tamil and Telugu simultaneously.

The film is reported to be made in two parts with Vivek Oberoi dominating the screen space in first part while Surya will gain more prominence in the latter part.

These days, Shruti Haasan's romantic link-up with actor Siddharth has been the bread-and-butter story for many gossip columnists.

But Shruti, in an unaffected manner, utters, “My father respects me a lot and has given me immense freedom. I know that freedom brings with it plentiful responsibilities.

I will adhere to this mantra forever. As of now, I am completely focused on my career and on producing some good personal achievements in the music industry.”

Adding more, she proclaims, “Being independent urges you to take the right decisions. There is no room for confusion.”

Since Shruti Haasan feels that Bollywood is an appropriate place for gaining exposure, she is searching for a good place to reside in Mumbai. She has already started delivering melodies for her dad Kamal Haasan's upcoming film 'Yaavarum Kelir' that is ready to take off by March.

Shruti Haasan has almost completed shooting for her Telugu film with Siddharth, which is slated to hit the screens in July 2010.